In Booth 164 of West Bengal’s Rajarhat New Town, the assembly election result has sparked questions among local residents, opposition leaders and political workers. When Alt News visited the constituency and spoke to voters, several of them described the result as absurd and impossible.
The CPI(M)-ISF alliance candidate Saptarshi Deb received just one vote from Booth 164. TMC candidate Tapash Chatterjee secured five votes, while BJP candidate Piyush Kanodia, who won the seat, got 637 of the 656 votes polled.
Booths 164 and 165 are located in a locality known as Musalman Para, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood. In the neighbouring Booth 165, which draws voters from the same locality and, in many cases, even from the same families, Kanodia received 32 votes, compared to Deb’s 299 and Chatterjee’s 290. In sharp contrast, in 164, where 88% of the electors are Muslims, BJP polled 97% of the votes.
Locals told Alt News that the result of Booth 164 was difficult to reconcile with the area’s political and demographic profile.
The Extra Round of Counting that Flipped the Result
The results for New Town were declared on May 5, a day after the rest of West Bengal’s election results.
The results were mired in controversy from the very beginning as the seat underwent 18 rounds of counting instead of the pre-notified 17 rounds. There were a total of 330 polling stations in the constituency, including 10 auxiliary booths. Each counting round was supposed to consist of the tallying of 20 EVMs. Accordingly, candidates expected 17 rounds of counting — 16 rounds involving 20 EVMs each and a final round involving the remaining 10 EVMs.
Why did the need for an extra round of counting arise?
The 18th round can be linked to 52 additional votes being recorded on the EVM at Booth 164 on the polling day. There, voting was suspended for nearly two hours after polling agents noticed that the EVM displayed 52 more votes than had actually been cast.
A polling agent told Alt News that although the EVM showed zero votes after mock poll (conducted before voting began), it was unclear whether the VVPAT slips for the mock votes had been removed. The agents from multiple political parties jointly submitted a written request seeking a VVPAT count for Booth 164. This was Round 18.
Until Round 17 of counting, BJP candidate Piyush Kanodia was trailing TMC’s Tapash Chatterjee. However, the counting of Booth 164 at the very end dramatically altered the outcome.
The 18th and final round (for Booth 164) showed 656 votes. Of these, Kanodia secured 637 votes, Chatterjee received five votes, and Deb received a single vote. The same figures are reflected in Form 20.
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